wideford
Walk west from the Deerness Stores and ooking up to the former United Free Church of Deerness a long natural mound called Howan Blo is easily seen. I have only seen it from the main road but there is a track goes by. I could see zooming in a slightly terraced slope, either from ploughing or perhaps to make inserting easier. The farm of Blow(e)s is said to be named after it.
In the excavation record I notice two similarities with George Petrie’s 1861 dig at Greentoft/Milldam, no great distance away. First the use of loose stone to ‘ground’ the cists, and more importantly that if someone had removed the funerary urn Petrie found it would have left an urn-shaped cavity of virtually the same dimensions as that at Howan Blo. Which suggest co-evality at least, if not the same potter.
NMRS HY50NE 5. Here over the course of a few years Mr Aim, the farmer at Blow(e)s, came across internments near its crest in 1929 and 1932 (the record says 1933, but Callendar’s article from that October refers the discovery to “January last”). On both occasions he covered the finds until the archaeologists came. In early March 1929 whilst digging into the clay his plough lifted the coverstone of a short cist containing an eight inch high dolomitic steatite urn and potsherds from a small urn. The cist was hollowed into a circular depresssion 4-5” deep in the centre, floored with stone flakes averaging some 5” square and ¼” thick. In plan it was approx. 20” by 16” with sides of bluish Orkney sandstone slabs each 18” deep and 1½” thick. There was a layer of burnt human bones 5-6” deep. After excavation the farmer put the remains back and covered the find. in January 1932 Mr Aim made another find only a few feet away. This consisted of a Bronze Age cinerary urn and fragments of a smaller one, both of clay. The large urn held bone ash and potsherds. When the archaeologists came and did their excavation they found an urn-shaped cavity under a coverstone just five feet away, though it had never held an urn. It measured some 15” deep and 12” wide diminishing to 5”, and was almost completely filled with the dark greasy remains of bones. Though the urn passed to the museum the rest was re-buried as before.
Structure 8
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Structure 8 diagonal view
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Structure 8 grand ‘hearth’ entrance
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Structure 8 hearth ‘entrance‘
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Structure 8 hearth ‘entrance’ looking out
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Structure 8 entrance and intermediary space
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House 2 with exterior walls
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House 2 with Structure 8 behind
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House 2 diagonal view
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House 2 view along entrance to back
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looking into House 3
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House 3 looking front to back
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House 3 entrance at left. Watchstone by red roofed house in background and Brodgar Standing Stone Pair at far right behind marking Lesser Wall of Brodgar
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House 3 looking over to Firth, House 6 upper right
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Barnhouse Neolithic Settlement looking southwards
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Houses 2 and 3
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House 2 and Structure 8
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House 3 with House 6 behind
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House 6 with houses 2 & 3 behind, in the background Stones of Stenness at left and Watch Stone to left of Odin Cottage
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Twi Ness rather than meaning twin-ness is said to be tongue-ness as there is no double headland, but the name Point of Dishan can only go as far back as The Douche so could well have been the other half of a Twi Ness (Doocot Point is shown seperately). The mound sits above the rocky headland. I wonder if the large stones in the cliff face part of a stoney outcrop on which the mound is placed or placed stone ? Because the upright slab being radial sounds like it might be more a divider than an encloser – wheelhouse maybe
Maes Howe seen in distant sun from the bird hut near the Barnhouse settlement
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The decoration is matched by that found at this year’s Smerquoy dig in Firth, as shown by the excavator with a photo – so obviously the stone is still there, though the image was labelled Ersdale
Watch Stone provides vertical element and Stones of Stenness henge the horizontal
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Ring of Brodgar seen from northen edge of Barnhouse site
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August 3rd view of Kockna-cumming area from Barnhouse settlement ; one of the Brodgar standing stone pair at extreme left (the Lesser Wall of Brodgar would have been marked by them), new excavation area of mound behind spoil heap centre left, old excavation scar beneath white vehicles, main Ness of Brodgar excavation behind houses
Image credit: wideford
This year they investigated strong circular features shown by geophysics and thought to be revetments [IIRC] for a Wideford-like tomb under the mound, but abandoned this for the time being when their excavation failed to turn up anything substantial. I’m sure if they had followed the common practice of checking a previous antiquarian excavation or the area adjacent they would have had better results. Instead they were (mis)led to an area away on the periphery with less-well defined arcs. At least they seem to have found the edge of the tomb or whatever. However, being perverse, I found twa other things uncovered intriguing. Into/onto the slumped stone mass there is a small sub-circular structure not having the appearance of a chamber – hopefully this is not the planti-creugh shown near the mound on early diagrams, but if not what ? A few feet from this is a depression with some stone tumble – immediately uphill of these two features in the section is an area ?robbed of stone. If it were me I would want to go back and see if either of these two items represents post-monumental activity.
Today the site has produced its first carved stone ball, ironically found by a non-drinker as the discovery prize is whisky. I’m sure the excavation blog will mention it, so look on Orkneyjar tonight I guess. It follows the usual Orcadian form and has round bossed faces.
They still have a long way to catch up to the ‘domestic’ Skara Brae settlement with over half-a-dozen. Elsewhere three were found at the Hillheads in St Ola (one from the circular enclosure/fort) and one each from Sanday, the Links of Noltland in Westray (last year), Orphir (thought to be from Bu [geophys found a double ring feature in the Bu area]), an unidentified Bignor in Stenness itself, and lastly one at Tamaskirk in Rendall.
Thursaday 8.00 in the St Magnus Centre on Palace Road, Kirkwall – results of this year’s dig including tomb. Free talk ‘’Snatched from the Sea : Excavations at Swandro, the story so far.’‘